(energetic music)
Hi, I'm Erin.
And I'm Veena.
And we're the Millennial Mamas.
InsideEdition.com tasked us with talking about tech time.
Do you do it or not?
Tech time, yes. (Veena laughs)
Tech time, I mean one of the most judgmental things
I feel like in the mom space right now.
Right now or always?
Especially right now.
I mean today technology is everywhere
and it's the easiest way to get your child to be quiet.
It is the best way to have a quiet dinner
with your husband without a sitter.
Yeah, I think it's kind of replaced a sitter in some ways.
Yeah, the iPad nanny.
It is.
Right?
But then you read articles and they will quickly tell you
that you are doing it wrong.
You should not have your child in front of the technology.
I mean there's so many moms out there that look at you
and go, "Your child should be behaved without that."
What do you think?
Well there is that judgment
and that has been passed on me before.
The American Pediatrics Association says no tech time
before they're two, right?
So I actually was one of those crazy moms
that adhered by that and I can't say
that if I had baby two that I would do that,
but I will say I have a seven year old boy
that we've actually removed all of watching shows
because they were causing behavioral issues.
So for me it was a reverse,
saying it wasn't actually helping.
The iPad nanny was no longer working
and we removed it for my sanity.
What is considered tech time though?
Just the iPad to you, or is TV included?
TV and iPad included, that means phone time too.
But I will say that we're movie watchers.
So we'll sit down and watch a movie,
but I will not let him watch a show
that he can have another episode and another episode
because it makes him crazy.
Well going back to the two year old timeframe.
I was the mom too that I said, you know what?
I'm gonna follow this.
This makes sense, like my child
should not be in front of the TV
before they're two and I'm gonna buy them Play-Doh
and Wikki Stix and all kinds of fun stuff for restaurants,
and coloring pages and let them pick up Cheerios
for an hour, and then I had baby number two.
By that point my other daughter's two years old.
She's you know, I've handed her the YouTube videos
so she can be quiet while I'm trying to enjoy
a peaceful moment or get on a conference call
because as a stay at home working mom,
you have to have a moment
to get on a phone call or something,
and you have to find a way to do it.
Sometimes a two year old, they're just gonna tantrum.
(energetic music)
And Cheerios are not gonna help anymore.
My poor baby, I'd be like here.
Here's some Sesame Street, alright you little thing too,
you're just gonna join your sister,
and she was in front of tech time early on.
There was a lot of judgment but how do you separate that
as a mom with two kids?
One kid's doing it, the other kid's gonna do it.
It's just the way it's gonna be
and I'm sad that there is judgment out there.
Well I mean there is research
that obviously goes into the recommendation,
and I appreciate the research and I've read the research,
but you know it's hard.
It's about like balancing your day
and being like, what is more important at the moment?
Will watching this show for 30 minutes kill my child?
The answer is no.
Each child is different
and they react to technology so differently.
I just really think that the best apps for the kids
are different based on what kids you have.
I mean my youngest one loves ABC Mouse.
♪ The alphabet begins with A ♪
And she can respond to that and she's learning on that.
Whenever she grabs the phone I'm like,
here, why don't you learn something
while I'm in the middle of a conference call?
And I don't feel bad about that.
I don't feel about handing her something
and when she's done she's gonna tell me
about some blue whale in the ocean
that she just learned about that day.
Sometimes apps you can really learn a lot.
On that, what is your favorite learning app?
I like Starfall.
♪ One, two, three, four ♪
♪ A, B, C, D, E, F, G ♪
It's something that you pay like a yearly membership
and it also works on a computer.
We use Epic! as a reading app
because they have really fun books on there.
We also use Bridge Constructor 'cause I have a little boy
that loves to build bridges and then the car goes on 'em.
They either crash or they succeed.
So he's learning bridge technique.
Maybe he'll be a bridge constructor one day,
I don't really know.
There should be no judgment because these little devices
can make our lives so much easier and peaceful,
and I think I can only imagine what it's gonna do
for our children's generation
and what they're gonna be able to do
and build because of them.
Well-- So go for it.
Go technology.
(Veena laughs)
Hand that device over.
I'm still on the fence,
but we want to hear from you about your tech time.
Do you do it, do you not do it?
Your favorite apps, what apps you stay away from.
So head on over to InsideEdition.com
or themillennialmamas.com.
Thanks for watching.
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